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After months of heated campaigns, voting is underway in Nigeria’s general election dubbed “the most important” in Africa.
On Saturday, voters will vote for their preferred presidential candidate and the National Assembly, with the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections to follow two weeks later on March 11.
The Nigerian electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced its readiness and posted a message on its website, “Voting Has Started.”
According to INEC’s Twitter page, voting will occur between 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., a seemingly short window for almost 95,000,000 voters to cast their ballots.
But with almost 175,000 Polling Units (PU), the distribution of voters calculates to an average of 528 voters per PU.
In his message to the public, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said his agency had made extra efforts to ensure the credibility of the elections.
“We expanded voter access to Polling Units by establishing 56,872 new ones in order to give Nigerians a more pleasant experience on Election Day,” Yakubu said.
He, however, noted that during a mock polling exercise, some voters showed up in the wrong Polling Units after they were moved or changed Polling Units.
“To ease the process, the Commission is sending bulk text messages to citizens voting in new Polling Units,” Yakubu said. “Similarly, the register of such voters for each state has been sent to the Resident Commissioners for publicity.”
Yakubu said voters could locate their voting location by texting INEC, visiting their website, or following directions on their social media platforms.
Presidential candidates from all 18 parties signed a peace accord on February 22, setting a positive tone for the elections.
The top contenders for the presidency are Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), leader of the opposition Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the insurgent Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party (LP) flag bearer.
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